From psbfan at geowayne.com Thu Sep 3 20:22:55 2015 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2015 20:22:55 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Poll ends soon on artists most musically similar to PSB Message-ID: <073E4C6E7292431D8BFA27524F77372C@COMP8> Hey there! Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last full day of my current poll, which asks you to choose the three artists or bands whom you believe are the most musically or stylistically similar to the Pet Shop Boys. If you haven't voted yet, please take a moment to visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and make your choices right there on my home page. On Sunday I will end this poll, post the final results, and launch a new survey for the week ahead. Thanks to everyone who has already voted! And I hope you all have a terrific weekend -- a long Labor Day weekend for my fellow fans in the U.S.! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Sat Sep 5 22:03:44 2015 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2015 22:03:44 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Final results of poll on artists most musically similar to PSB Message-ID: This week's survey returns to my objective of late to offer more polls with fewer choices, in this case asking a question that may strike some of you as shocking coming from a die-hard PSB fan like me. I'm wondering whether you have ever felt?and possibly even still feel?that the Pet Shop Boys have at some point in their career "jumped the shark." (For those of you who may not be familiar with this particular pop-culture idiom, which has been around now for a couple of decades, I provide a sThe final results are in for my poll this past week, in which I asked my site visitors to select the three artists that are, in their opinion, the most musically or stylistically similar to the Pet Shop Boys. And the three artists that received the most votes were: * New Order, chosen by 41.5% of the voters, * Erasure, picked by 38.5%, and * OMD (Orchestral Maneouvres in the Dark), selected by 21.5%. To see the complete results, please visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and select one of the "Past Survey Results" options in the top navigation bar or click the appropriate link on my "What's New?" page. My new poll for the week ahead may seem a little shocking coming from a die-hard PSB fan and visited almost exclusively by fellow dedicated Petheads, but here goes: Have you ever felt that the Pet Shop Boys had "jumped the shark"? Now, for those of you (probably not many) who may be unfamiliar with that term, I provide a handy explanation right there on my home page as part of the poll. At any rate, please mull this over and make the appropriate choice from the options provided. (It's a little more than merely "Yes" and "No.") In the meantime, thanks to everyone who voted in last week's survey! And I hope you all have a marvelous week ahead (as well as a happy and safe Labor Day to those of you who observe that holiday on Monday). Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Thu Sep 10 23:07:35 2015 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2015 23:07:35 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Poll ends soon on whether you have ever believed PSB had "jumped the shark" Message-ID: Hey there! Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last full day of my current poll, which asks whether you have ever felt that the Pet Shop Boys had "jumped the shark." (If you're not familiar with that expression, I offer a succinct explanation right there along with the poll.) If you haven't voted yet, please take a moment to visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and make your choice from the options provided. On Sunday I will end this poll, post the final results, and kick off a new survey for the week ahead. Thanks to everyone who has already voted! And I hope you all have an excellent weekend! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Sat Sep 12 22:09:16 2015 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2015 22:09:16 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Final results of poll on whether you've ever felt PSB had "jumped the shark" Message-ID: <72DC92D18E6241BBB415F2AF70C049EF@COMP8> I've posted the final results my survey this past week, in which I asked my site visitors whether they have ever felt that the Pet Shop Boys had "jumped the shark." And the response that received the most votes was (perhaps not surprisingly): * "No -- never!" chosen by 53.9% of the voters. To see the complete results, please visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and select one of the "Past Survey Results" options in the top navigation bar or click the appropriate link on my "What's New?" page. My new poll for the week ahead asks you to imagine PSB music in a slightly earlier age. I'm wondering which of the Pet Shop Boys' singles that they themselves composed do you believe would have stood the greatest chance of being the biggest hit back during the mid- or late 1970s, during the height of the "Disco Era" (although that song wouldn't necessarily need to be in the disco mold since, after all, not all of the big hits of that period were disco tracks). Another way to look at it is this: if you had a time machine and could take any of those singles back in the past with you to the 1970s, in hopes that you would be able to score a huge hit with it, which one would you take? So please mull this over and make your choice right there on my home page. I hope you have some fun with this one! Thanks to everyone who voted in last week's survey! And I hope you all have a marvelous week ahead! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Thu Sep 17 21:45:32 2015 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2015 21:45:32 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Poll ends soon on which PSB-composed single would have been the biggest 1970s hit Message-ID: <73DFBA64A7664E5C90BFCEB23762ADF1@COMP8> Hey there! Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last full day of my current poll, which asks which of the Pet Shop Boys' singles that they themselves composed do you think would have stood the greatest chance of being the biggest hit back during the mid- to late 1970s, at the height of the "Disco Era" (although since there were many big hits of that period that *weren't* "disco" tracks, your choice certainly doesn't have to be a "disco" song). If you haven't voted yet, please take a moment to visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and make your selection right there on my home page. On Sunday I will end this poll, post the final results, and launch a new survey for the week ahead! Thanks to everyone who has already voted! And I hope you all have a terrific weekend! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Sat Sep 19 22:06:51 2015 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2015 22:06:51 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Final results of poll on PSB single that might have been the biggest 1970s hit Message-ID: <00648DFAD83D4022A37FE66C4247C5D8@COMP8> The final results are in of my survey this past week, in which I asked my site visitors which PSB-composed single they believe would have stood the best chance of being the biggest hit during the mid- and late 1970s, during the height of the "Disco Era." And the song that received (by an overwhelming margin) the most votes was: * "New York City Boy," selected by 36.8% of the voters (which may not seem like that much until you note that the song that came in second place was picked by less than 6%). To see the complete results, please visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and select one of the "Past Survey Results" options in the top navigation bar or click the appropriate link on my "What's New?" page. My new poll for the week ahead is perhaps an unusually simple one, at least at first glance. As you probably know, the Pet Shop Boys left their longtime record label EMI shortly before the 2013 release of their most recent album, Electric, which they instead released on their own new record label, X2 (pronounced "Times Two"). Since then they've also released several additional items on X2, namely the singles from that album. So I'm wondering how you feel thus far about their "release strategy" -- that is, what and how much has been released on X2 to date. I'm using the familiar "satisfaction scale" that you've almost certainly encountered elsewhere from time to time, ranging from "very satisfied" to "very dissatisfied." Thanks to Dave F for suggesting this question! Thanks as well to everyone who voted in last week's survey! And I hope you all prove to be *very* satisfied with the week ahead! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Thu Sep 24 22:03:14 2015 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2015 22:03:14 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Poll ends soon on your satisfaction with the x2 PSB "release strategy" Message-ID: Hey there! Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last full day of my current poll, which asks how satisfied you are with the "release strategy" so far for the Pet Shop Boys' own record label x2 ("Times Two"). If you haven't voted yet, please take a moment to visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and make your choice right there on my home page. On Sunday I will end this poll, post the final results, and launch a new survey for the week ahead. Thanks to everyone who has already voted! And I hope you all have a terrific weekend! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm From psbfan at geowayne.com Sat Sep 26 22:08:19 2015 From: psbfan at geowayne.com (Wayne Studer) Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2015 22:08:19 -0700 Subject: [Introspective] Final results of poll on the "release strategy" to date of the PSB x2 label Message-ID: The final results are in for my poll this past week, in which I asked my site visitors about their level of satisfaction with regard to the "release strategy" to date of the Pet Shop Boys' own record label, x2. And the response that received the most votes was: * "Somewhat satisfied," selected by 23.7% of the voters. To see the complete results, please visit my "Commentary" site at http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm and select one of the "Past Survey Results" options in the top navigation bar or click the appropriate link on my "What's New?" page. I get a kick out of polls occasionally run by fellow fans on other websites that ask us to pick our favorite PSB track from a group of songs determined by a somewhat arbitrary criterion, such as those starting with a certain letter of the alphabet -- for instance, your favorite Pet Shop Boys song that starts with the letter B. As much as I enjoy seeing the results of such polls, I could never bring myself to run such an "alphabet-based" survey because my own sense of balance and need for completion would virtually force me to run one for every letter of the alphabet. No, I'm not going to go down that path. But for this week's poll I've decided to ask just such a question using an arbitrary criterion that won't tempt me to embark on a long series of sequels or follow-ups: What is your favorite PSB-composed song that begins with the pronoun "I"? Please, when you get the chance, check out the list right there on my home page, mull it over, and choose your personal favorite. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who voted in last week's survey! And I hope you all have a superb week ahead! Wayne http://www.geowayne.com/psbhtml.htm